Page 51 of Camilla & Dallas
He closed the box and clutched it in his fist. Camilla would be his wife. There was no way he’d lose her a second time.
“What are you doing in my room?”
Dallas stiffened at his sister’s voice. He had to be dreaming. She wasn’t due to come home for another couple of days at least. Slowly, he turned around. She was scowling at him, but then her eyes flicked to the bookshelf and for a second, she looked almost green. But then she schooled her features and placed her hands on her hips. He glowered right back. “I think the better question is why you took this from my room.” He held up the box. “Care to explain?”
Cheyenne’s face burst with color, and she stormed toward him like she intended on taking the ring, but he brought it behind his back to prevent that from happening. “You can’t seriously be thinking of proposing to her.”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
She scoffed and let out a bark of laughter.
Dallas could feel his frustration mounting. Once again, Cheyenne was attempting to stand in his way, and he couldn’t understand why. “What’s your problem? Why can’t you just let us be happy?”
“Because she’smyfriend, Dallas. And she was my friend first.” Her sharp words clapped through the air like a slap to the face.
“What?”
She growled with frustration, covering her face with her hands. It had gone beet-red at this point. “Camilla was my friend, and you stole her away from me like you always do.”
He might have stumbled back a step if the bookshelf wasn’t directly behind him. She was acting crazy. The look on his face must have made his thoughts clear because she let out a dark laugh.
“Don’t look at me like that. You know I’m right. You butt in with my friends. Date them. Then things get weird, and they don’t want to hang out anymore.”
“Cheyenne—” he started but didn’t know what he was going to say. She didn’t let him figure it out.
“Seven years ago, when I told you that Camilla wouldn’t marry you without a plan—without a future, I lied. There. I said it. She would have followed you to the ends of the earth if you asked her to, and…” Her voice trailed off, and for a second, she almost looked apologetic.
It felt like all the blood had drained from his body. Did he look as sick to his stomach as he felt? “You… you told me she… wanted someone with a good job.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I mean, she probably did—does—but back then we were too young to settle down anyway.”
He wanted to throw something, break something. “I wasn’t,” he growled. “I knew what I wanted. I wantedher.”
Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “You don’t know anything. It could have easily blown up in your faces. Young love and early marriages rarely work out.”
Dallas couldn’t stand to listen to this a second longer. He strode toward her, and she flinched before she realized he was attempting to leave. Then she blocked the door.
“You can’t ask her to marry you, Dallas.”
“Watch me,” he bit out.
“She won’t forgive you.”
That had him stopping in his tracks. “What is that supposed to mean?” He stared daggers at her, daring her to say something that would make it easy to retaliate.
“I’ll tell her.”
Eyes narrowing, Dallas leaned in closer to her. “Tell her what? That you manipulated me into leaving?”
She scoffed. “I never told you to leave.”
“Yes, you did?—”
“I said you needed to have acareer. No one was stopping you from finding something local or within driving distance.”
His mouth fell open.
Cheyenne was technically right. He’d been so consumed with the idea of doing something good for his future and the one he wanted with Camilla that he hadn’t considered anything beyond chasing the dream career he’d had. His sister had manipulated him in more ways than he’d originally thought. Even now, she was attempting to put doubt in his mind.
